DEKALB – Fifty-six Rockford Promise Scholars made either the Dean’s List or Academic Excellence list in the fall semester at Northern Illinois University.

Typically, between and 10 percent and 25 percent of undergraduates in colleges make honors lists, depending on the varying criteria. There were 203 Rockford Promise Scholars at NIU to start the fall semester, meaning nearly 28 percent worked their way onto an honors list. It was a very strong showing for Promise Scholars.

To make the Dean’s List, students must earn a grade point average of 3.5 or better in the college of engineering or engineering technology or a minimum of 3.75 in the colleges of business, education, health and human sciences, liberal arts and sciences and visual and performing arts.

The Academic Excellence List recognizes undergraduates who have not yet declared a major and had a minimum 3.5 GPA.

This is the second year of a landmark partnership between the City of Rockford, NIU and Rockford Promise that helps up to 150 qualifying Rockford Public Schools graduates go to NIU tuition free.

From the 2021-2022 cohort, the following nine Scholars made the honors list for the third straight semester – Hannah Beach, Kalilah Chears, Sydney Fields, Darby McGowan, Sarah McLaughlin, Taw Meh, Daniela Perez, Vincent Syphommarath, and Miguel Valdez.

Five made an honors list for the second time in three semesters – Felicia Brathwaite, Mya Foster, Jacob Melvin, Albert Mendez, and Yazmine Rodriguez.

Four Promise Scholars made an honors list for the first time – Kaw Do, Trinity Riley, Eli Stoneberg, and Adam Zayad.

Thirty-eight students out of the 133 students in the 2022-2023 cohort made an honors list. They are as follows: Jaziel Aguilar Santacruz, Riley Anderson, Ruth Arroyo, Anastasia Bruce, Isabella Carmona, Diana Coliz, Owen Dahlberg, Jaden Davis, Jonathan Dumois, Gina Fiorenza, Isaac Garcia, Ayah Gheith, Dylan Ho, Edward Hoffman, Nico Ibarra, Rachael Johnson, Richard Kim, Amber Kirk, Noah Kowalski, Paw Lu, Sarah Marsh, Baw Meh, Eh Sue Moo, Darielys Morales Ruiz, Natalia Nunez-Cruz, Jennifer Pereira, Nam Pham, Alexis Phommavong, Jose Plascencia, Kolandra Roundtree, Jessica Shute, Jacklyn Solis, May Stroup, Aidan Suh, Margaret Thomas, Gabriel Torres, Yi Hsiu Tung and Jude Yehling.